


Come Right Back

by catthedoodlecatcher



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Café, Falling In Love, Flirt! Lance, Gay Keith (Voltron), I Don't Even Know, I think that's it - Freeform, Keith and Lance are bad at love, Keith being a git, Keith works in a bookshop, Lance is a tennis player, Langst, M/M, Maybe some Allura later, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn, Swearing, but not too graphic, eventually, might be some smut later, not sure yet - Freeform, they fall in love, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-13
Updated: 2017-10-20
Packaged: 2018-12-27 15:37:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12084054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catthedoodlecatcher/pseuds/catthedoodlecatcher
Summary: Lance has always been a flirt, and he's always been pretty successful at it too. However, he's not prepared for his latest target's reaction: giving him the middle finger and telling him to come back later. Offended but also enamoured, Lance makes it his mission to get Keith to fall in love with him, because falling on your own is never fun. And anyway it's not like Lance LOVES Keith right? Right?!-A.k.a Lance hits on Keith and Keith eventually agrees to go out with him but Lance has a massive inferiority complex. Keith appears to be an asshole but is actually a precious cinnamon roll. It's cute I swear!





	1. We Were Sitting Down

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic (hooray!) so I would love any feedback that anyone has to offer me, but please be nice about it :). I hope you all enjoy this super cheesy and kind of fast paced story? I honestly don't really know where I'm going with this yet but I'm going to try and update it every week on Wednesdays so look out for updates. I also wanted to write Spanish words into Lance's speech but that's kind of hard when I don't know any Spanish. I might use google and add some in later. Who knows? Happy reading folks!

Lance has always been one for impulsive flirting, so when he sees the hot guy sitting on a table adjacent to his in his favourite café, he gives it a damn good shot.

 

Waltzing up to the table and crouching down next to him so that their eyes meet (Lance notes the beautiful violet colour of the stranger’s eyes) he speaks confidently, with a smooth tone of a learned flirt.

 

“Are you from Tennessee? ‘Cos you’re the only ten I see”.

 

To Lance’s surprise, however, he does not receive the reaction he is used to. Instead of a polite dismissal or just plain denial, he gets a long, hard stare and then the middle finger.

 

This guy just had the nerve to _flip. Him. Off._

_“Wow_ okay sorry I just told you that you’re attractive. Guess I’ll fuck right off then jeez”.

 

The guy then nods curtly and goes back to staring out the window. Taken aback by the rudeness of the gesture, Lance decides to push further.

 

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?” he asks innocently, hoping for at least an articulate response.

 

The guy sighs and turns around from the window so that he’s facing Lance again, and Lance is surprised to find defeat rather than anger in his eyes.

 

“Look”, the stranger says, voice tense and curt “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, and you’re not _un_ attractive, but I am not in the mood. Bug me some other time okay?”

 

Lance smirks. “Is that an invitation?”

 

To his surprise, the guy smiles. “You wish”.

 

Lance leaves the café a few minutes after, feeling oddly accomplished despite not even having got the guy’s number.

 

-

 

**One week later**

 

It’s been a week since Lance’s failed attempt at getting the strange mullet boy’s number, and he’s not sure whether he’ll ever see him again until he does. There he is, siting in the same window seat of the café, and Lance only knows one thing that he can do to resolve the problem.

 

Walking up to the table, Lance makes a fist and gently knocks on the wood, but loud enough so that the stranger jumps and turns to face him so suddenly Lance may as well have slapped him. Nevertheless, undeterred, he continues, stretching out his hand and smugly observing the guy’s shocked (and adorable) frown.

 

“I just broke the ice. The name’s Lance”.

 

The guy finally holds out his hand and shakes Lance’s. “You don’t give up, do you?” he asks, smiling a little so that his cheeks are flushed and his eyebrows are pinched slightly in the most adorable way that Lance has ever seen. “I’m Keith”. He can’t help but feel the same flush creeping up into his own cheeks and pooling over the bridge of his nose. _Shit this guy is cute._

“Finally feeling generous enough to talk, are you?” he teases.

 

“It's generous that I’m even looking at you”, Keith smirks, running his hands through his soft black hair. Lance wants to reach out and touch it. He doesn’t. Instead, he scoffs and retorts.

 

“Looking at me is the best thing that’s happened to you all day and you know it mullet. I’m a masterpiece”.

 

“If you’re such a masterpiece”, Keith smirks lazily, “Why is there a coffee stain the size of your nose on your shirt?”

 

Lance feels his face turn two shades darker as he remembers his accident from earlier. Of course something like that just had to get in the way of his otherwise flawless flirting. He quickly grabs a napkin from Keith’s table and tires to wipe it away, failing miserably. Huffing, Lance casually slumps into the seat across from Keith and grins sheepishly.

 

“So am I getting your number or not?”

 

Keith flushes and pouts a little, as if he didn’t previously have an idea for Lance’s ulterior motives for talking to him. Silently, he writes down a number on a spare napkin and hands it over. Lance eagerly accepts it.

 

“So…if I called you, you’d maybe…I don’t know, go on a date with me?” Lance suddenly feels shy, and he knows that it’s because he’s never actually asked out a guy before. Sure, he’s dated plenty of girls, and he’s had crushes on multiple guys throughout his life, but he’s never actually been on a date with one. Heck he doesn’t know if Keith is gay. What if he isn’t gay? What if Lance is being stupid and Keith is just trying to get him to go away and-

 

“Yes.”

 

“What?!” Lance feels like someone just slapped him across the face. “I mean, you will?”

“Yeah”, Keith smiles, a little timidly for someone so feisty, “Yeah I would like that”.

 

Lance feels something exited and small clench in his chest. His heart starts to pick up pace, beating extremely loudly and he feels self-conscious because surely Keith can hear it? His nerves are suddenly very much present. His throat feels tight with anticipation. Quickly before he embarrasses himself and completely destroys his chances, Lance stands up and makes to leave. But Keith isn’t done with him yet.

 

“I finish work on Friday at seven. If you wanted to take me out, you would do well to call me at around eight AM beforehand and ask”.

 

Lance can’t actually believe the guy who flipped him off is giving him instructions on how to ask him out. Half of him wants to burst out laughing from the sheer audacity of it all, and the other half feels giddy with something warm and fuzzy. A strong feeling of euphoria sweeps over his body and Lance can feel the tingles travelling down from the base of his neck to the tips of his long, slender fingers.

 

“Okay”, he mumbles shyly. Keith smiles, genuinely this time. Lance is taken aback by how cute he is. Like, seriously, how is it fair to be that fucking cute? Keith must have dated loads of guys before. Or girls. Lance is probably just a peg on the line.

 

As he leaves, he tries to squash down that dangerous feeling of hope that is clouding his thoughts and making his chest ache faintly.

 

 

 

 


	2. Call Me Up, Take Me Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk, Pidge and Shiro arrive on the scene. Lance is bad at allowing himself to feel things. Keith is just excited. They finally plan the date (over the phone).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't usually be able to update this quickly, but school is pretty chill at the moment and I am on a roll so here we are pals, the newest chapter is here! Hope you enjoy :)

When Lance gets home from the café, he feels like he’s going to burst. The excitement that’s been fizzing inside of his guts the whole walk home is about to bubble over, and he knows he’ll go crazy if he doesn’t tell anyone what happened.

 

It just so happens that when Lance steps into the medium sized apartment that he shares with his two best friends, Hunk and Pidge, that they’re sitting on the big red beanbag in the living room, playing what looks like a shooting game. Hunk is, obviously, loosing epically to Pidge as she completely kills it with her sniper gun (no pun intended).

 

“Guys!”, Lance flops down onto the beanbag excitedly, sending Pidge and Hunk upwards and causing Pidge to finally be defeated by the alien enemy. Huffing with annoyance, but smiling fondly at Lance’s overdramatic ass, both turn to face him.

 

“What have you done this time?”, Pidge groans jokingly, but Lance is too excited to retort. Instead, he fishes out the napkin with Keith’s number on it and holds it out triumphantly in an outstretched hand. Both of them lean forward to have a closer look, and Hunk gasps in mock disbelief whilst Pidge starts howling with laughter.

 

“Lance has got himself a date!”, Hunk chuckles fondly. The two resettle quickly and sit opposite from Lance, and Lance can’t help feel a little bit intimidated by Pidge’s face. He knows that face. It’s the ‘I’m about to interrogate your ass’ face.

 

“When?”, Pidge starts. “When, where and most importantly, _how_?”

 

Lance scoffs loudly.

 

“One, what the heck do you mean how? They obviously appreciated my damn good looks and realized that I moisturise. It’s not that hard to impress people when you’re this hot”.

 

Pidge rolls her eyes. Hunk smiles.

 

“Secondly”, he continues, “I met him at the café a week ago. He flipped me off when I hit on him and told me to come back later. I saw him again today and did the same thing, and he told me that I never give up and gave me his number”.

 

Both Pidge and Hunk are staring at him now, a little bit shocked, and Lance realizes it’s because he just admitted that Keith is a boy. He knows that both of his friends accept his bisexuality, but this is a shocker. It’s the first guy Lance has ever successfully hit on.

 

“Wooow”, Pidge smirks sarcastically, “He flipped you off and then gave you his number? I think you just found yourself a catch”.

 

“Yeah”, Hunk adds in hesitantly, “Don’t you think it’s a bit weird that he told you, quite literally, to piss off and then gave you his number? Is he a good guy Lance? Are you sure this is a good idea?”

 

Lance smiles confidently and waves his hand in front of his friends’ faces. “He’s nice okay, I promise! It got off to a bad start but.” he pauses before running his hands through his hair shyly, “He’s really cute, okay? I’ve got to go on at least one date with him”.

 

Pidge nods seriously, and Hunk chews his lip in agreement.

 

“Seeing as this is the first time you’ve dated a guy”, Pidge says thoughtfully, “don’t you think you need to read up a bit?”

 

“Read up? On what?”

 

Pidge grins devilishly, before standing up slowly. Once upright, she looks down at Lance in all of her five-foot glory and replies casually.

 

“Gay sex, of course”.

 

Lance jumps upright and chases after a madly giggling Pidge whilst Hunk writhes with hilarity on the beanbag, crying tears of laughter.

 

“I’M SEVENTEEN YOU LITTLE SHIT”.

 

-

 

When Keith gets home, he feels his face finally being consumed by the mad grin that he’s being trying to suppress all day long. _Finally,_ he thinks, he’s got himself a date. And not just any date, either, but a date with the beautiful boy who tried to hit on him when he was in one of his worst moods and then didn’t give up. This boy, Keith thinks, is the best kind of boy for a first date experience.

 

Dumping his bag in the hallway, Keith wonders into the kitchen and thinks about Lance some more. He’s never met someone with so many freckles before. And moles. Lance has a lot of moles. Keith particularly likes the one on the left corner of Lance’s nose, but he hasn’t had the chance to fully admire Lance’s entire face yet, so it’s too early to be picking favourites.

 

His lips are pretty nice too. He has those full, pink pouty lips that Keith has always wanted in a boyfriend. They look smooth and aren’t chapped at all, something that Keith envies, and they look extremely kissable.

 

“You’ve got to stop grinning like that, Keith, It’s freaking me out”.

 

Keith jumps out of his skin, his entire body flinching and his muscles tensing significantly. He hadn’t noticed Shiro entering the room or sitting across the counter from him, but there he is, wearing a shit-eating grin. _Fuck._

“What’s making you smile so much then?” Shiro enquires innocently, leaning over the table so that Keith can see the sparkle of mischief in his eyes. “What have you done this time?”

 

“I haven’t done anything”, Keith snaps defensively, frowning heavily before he can stop himself. Shiro sighs and moves to turn away but Keith’s excitement gets the better of him. “Wait”.

 

When Shiro turns around, the grin is still there, and Keith knows that Shiro knew this was going to happen.

 

“I…” Keith hesitates. What _did_ happen exactly? “I gave me number to someone. Someone….hit on me and I gave him my number”.

 

Shiro’s face turns from mischief to shock.

 

“Are you telling me”, he says slowly, with disbelief, “that someone successfully hit on you and got your number without you flipping them off at least once and scaring them away?”

 

Keith feels his entire face turn bright red and he visibly cringes. Talking about this shouldn’t be that hard, but Keith isn’t used to being the element of surprise. He snorts nervously and shoves Shiro before getting up and making a beeline for the stairs.

 

“Wait”.

 

Keith turns around, and finds Shiro smiling at him kindly.

 

“If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but if you do want too, then I’m all ears okay?”

 

Keith nods, and Shiro gets up to make some coffee, but not before turning around, winking at Keith and saying “Good job little bro”.

 

-

 

**The next day**

Lance hates Thursdays.

 

There are many reasons why he hates them: they always feel like Fridays but they’re not, they always make him tired because he has to go to school and then has tennis practice right after, and he has the worst lessons at school too. However, there is now a new reason that Lance hates Thursdays, and that is because it means a whole day of waiting until he gets to call up Keith and officially ask him out.

 

If he weren’t afraid of coming across as too desperate, Lance would have called Keith today and asked. But this isn’t like all of his previous relationships where he threw himself in headfirst and ended up getting hurt. This is going to be good. It probably won’t last long, because Keith seems like the kind of guy who gets asked out a lot. He’ll definitely find someone better than Lance eventually, but it can’t hurt just to go on a few dates, right? He really likes Keith, he’s finally going to get to date a _boy_ and if he’s lucky he’ll get to kiss him pretty soon. And kisses and dates don’t need to lead to feelings. Lance has had enough with feelings. It’ll be causal and cool and Lance will not get sucked into those pretty eyes with are just _so purple_ -

 

“Lance, dude, snap out of it”.

 

Lance is swept out of his daze by Hunk’s fingers snapping across his face. Reality comes rushing n, and he finds himself on the way to school, blue rucksack on his back and Pidge and Hunk in tow. He sighs and shakes his head, attempting to declutter his brain. It doesn’t work.

 

“Look, lover-boy”, Pidge drawls from his left side, “We’re not going to be late to school ‘cos of you and your fantasies that I don’t want to hear about. Honerva is going to murder us if we show up for registration over two seconds late.”

 

Lance smiles. Of course Pidge would use sarcastic humour and references to Honerva to make him feel better. Speeding up, the three make it into the classroom just in time.

 

-

 

School is a drag. Lance is desperate to call Keith. It’s literally all he can think about, and the itch to check his phone every five seconds even though Keith gave him his number and not the other way around is extremely overwhelming.

 

Then Lance realizes something. It’s all well and good asking Keith out, but he hasn’t got any plans for a date. Heck, where the hell would someone like Keith want to go for a date? A _casual_ date? Fancy meals are a massive no, Lance thinks to himself. From the looks of him, Keith is a pretty serious guy, so he probably wouldn’t be interested in a theme park. Maybe a museum? Keith seemed like the geeky type. The problem was that Lance didn’t know what Keith’s interests were. Maybe a super cheesy date? Something cute and-

 

“Lance, lad, you really need to start paying attention if you want to pass this test”.

 

Lance jolts upright. His brain is suddenly grounded back in reality. He glances around quickly and sees his classroom, individual desks spread out in rows coupled against the gray walls that lined most of the school building. He looks down at his notepaper and realizes, guiltily, that it’s blank.

 

“Lance”, Coran, his physics professor, says again, “Are you okay?”

 

Lance swallows. “Yes, sir”. He can see Pidge across the room giving him a smug look. Hunk is trying not to laugh. Lance flips them both off as soon as Coran’s back is turned, similarly to how Keith did it to him.

 

This was going to be a long long day.

 

-

 

“Shiro?”

 

“Yes, Keith?”

 

“Where would you like to be taken on a first date?”

 

They’re lounging in the living room of their apartment; Shiro on the sofa and Keith sprawled out across the floor. Suddenly interested, Shiro leans up on his elbow so that he’s facing Keith from overhead, and smiles down at him.

 

“Ready to talk now, huh?”

 

Keith flushes and swats at Shiro’s head, but doesn’t deny it. The truth is that, yes, he does want to talk. He wants to vent about how nervous he is and go on for hours about how goddamn gorgeous Lance and his stupid freckles are and how out of his league his is. He wants to talk about how many times he’s panicked about the date so far, because what exactly did Lance want from him? Sex? Dinner? A movie? Instead of talking, he closes his eyes and nods, so that he doesn’t have to see Shiro’s satisfied smile.

 

“Well”, Shiro muses, “I guess I’d like to go on a date somewhere unique. I’d want to do something quite romantic but also very exciting. Something, I guess, that allows room for conversation but also has enough activity in it so that the date doesn’t get awkward. An aquarium? The beach? Stargazing?”

 

Keith nods slowly, his eyes still shut, and thinks about all the possibilities that connect with Shiro’s idealized date. An aquarium? Lance might hate aquatic life. The beach? Lance might not like the beach. Stargazing? Now that was an interesting idea…

 

-

 

**Later that evening**

Keith wales from a peaceful slumber to the sound of his phone buzzing. Stretching, and feeling a familiar yawn coming on, he glances up an sees that Shiro has fallen asleep on the sofa. Rubbing his eyes, he looks at the clock on the wall opposite him.

 

8:30pm.

 

Wincing at the brightness from his phone, Keith picks it up without bothering to look at who’s calling. Probably Allura asking Keith if he can tell Shiro to call her back. He picks up.

 

“Hey, is this Keith?”

 

Keith’s eyes fly wide open and he bolts upright. It’s Lance. It’s Lance on the other end of the phone, and he’s talking to Keith in a cautious tone, almost as if he thinks Keith will hang up on him.

 

“Hello? Keith?”

 

“Yeah, sorry, it’s me”.

 

“Ah, hey man. I was just wondering if you were free tomorrow? Eight o’clock maybe?”

 

Keith smiles happily and chews his lip, shifting so that his feet are rubbing against each other with anticipation as he talks.

 

“Yeah, I’m free”.

 

“Great!” Lance’s voice suddenly brightens and Keith can hear him grinning like crazy through the phone. He can’t even see Lance and Keith is already turning red at the thought of that stupidly cute grin. “I was thinking maybe we could-“.

 

“Hey, Lance?”

 

“…. Yeah?”.

 

“I was thinking I could meet you outside where I work and I could maybe take you somewhere? I have an idea for something to do. You know…if you’re down.”.

 

There’s a pause on the other end, and then he hears a sigh. And then laughter. Lance is laughing.

 

“That sounds great. I couldn’t think of anything to do so, I mean, yeah if you have an idea I’ll go along with it”.

 

“Great!”.

 

There’s silence for a few moments, but Keith doesn’t find it to be particularly awkward.

 

“What should I bring?”, Lance asks excitedly. Keith feels his own excitement start to bubble in his chest, like his favouite fizzy apple cider: warm and vaguely intoxicating.

 

“Warm clothes and something good to eat”, Keith concludes, sounding more confident than he feels.

 

“Okay, cool…so I’ll see you tomorrow?”.

 

“Yeah”, Keith smiles, “You’ll see me tomorrow. I’ll send you the address of my workplace.”.

 

“‘Kay. Catch you later Keith”.

 

“Bye”.

 

When the call ends, Keith lets out a tight breath that he didn’t know he’d been holding and flops back down on the floor. It’s lucky, he thinks, that Shiro is still asleep, because the smile that he just can’t squash down this time makes him feel like a fifteen-year-old girl.

 

Now, he thinks, all he has to do is wait.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter they're going to go stargazing and it's going to be FLUFFY and CUTE and also they're both a lil' bit awkward so that should be interesting. Stay tuned folks!


	3. Soup and Stars and Looking at You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith thinks Lance wants him for something. Lance is just excited. They go stargazing and finally start developing their own respective crushes on each other. Awww how cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, it's me, back with another chapter! It's (hopefully) quite fluffy this time, but I'm still building up to the part where they catch major feelings for each other. I would just like to clarify that this is set in England. I know that Lance and Keith are officially not English (nationality wise) but I love England and so that is where they live in this particular story. Hope y'all like this chapter and enjoy the fluff. Any constructive criticism? Hit me up in the comments below (but please be nice)! Happy reading friends!

Keith’s heart is hammering in his throat, and it’s making him clumsy. Dropping books when you’re meant to be stacking them onto shelves is not a good look, especially for Keith, who has been trying to create a very specific ‘don’t mess with me’ vibe ever since he began working here. Trying to calm himself down, Keith tries to think of things that don’t lead back to Lance and the date that they’ve planned for tonight, but somehow it’s all he can think about. Stupid Lance and his dumb pick up lines and his pretty smile and freakishly beautiful blue eyes that look light the ocean at sunrise.

 

Keith drops another book.

 

It’s funny, because although Keith is _definitely_ attracted to Lance, he can’t help but think that maybe that’s all it is on Lance’s side too. Lance seemed like a flirt. Was Keith just another date? Was Lance just killing time? Keith couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t quite right in some way. And that’s when it hit him. A thought so obvious that Keith almost fell off of his ladder, which he was balancing n in order to reach the higher shelves.

 

Lance wanted to have sex with Keith.

 

It made sense. That’s why people usually used pick up lines right? Because they wanted sex? It’s not like Keith is too young (he’s eighteen) so it was perfectly reasonable for Lance to flirt with him and, so to say, pick him up. Keith feels the urge to violently kick something. He decides against it. Instead, he shoves the books onto the shelves a little more roughly than necessary and tries to calm his breathing, which has increased rapidly since the thought occurred to him.

 

He breathes in

 

_One_

_Two_

_Three_

_Four_

And out

 

_Five_

_Six_

_Seven_

_Eight_

 

And closes his eyes.

 

It’s fine. He wants to go on the date anyway. Lance may only want him for a singular purpose but that doesn’t mean that Keith isn’t still down. He just feels a little bit…disappointed. It’s not like he _likes_ Lance, he just thought….

 

Never mind.

-

 

Lance is excited. Lance is excited quite a lot of the time, but today he is particularly excited. He can feel his dimples becoming permanently embedded on his face in a stupid, wide, toothy grin that refuses to quell. He can’t wait. This is the day he’s been anticipating ever since he stepped out of the café that fateful day with Keith’s number on a napkin. His first date with a boy. His first date with Keith. Nothing can contain him.

 

It’s a shame that the walk to the bookshop where Keith works at is such a short distance away, because otherwise Lance would have liked to kill time by walking there. Walking clears his head, and he needs something to distract him from the nerves that he’s feeling.

 

“It’s perfectly normal”, Pidge had said earlier, when he’d confided in her about his anxiety surrounding the situation “You like him, right? He must like you a little bit or he wouldn’t have bothered to give you his number. Believe in yourself a little bit more, okay? It’s bound to be awkward, but I don’t see why he wouldn’t wind up liking you, Lance. It’s very hard not to like you”

 

Lance smiles fondly at the memory. He usually goes to Hunk for the more serious advice, but that’s not to say that Pidge isn’t there for him when he needs her. She may be sarcastic and snarky and downright rude sometimes, but deep down she really does care about her friends, and that includes Lance. He loves her like a little sister.

 

Glancing at the clock in the hallway of his apartment, Lance notes that it’s almost time to leave. He grabs his school rucksack (which he emptied of school supplies earlier and filled with warm clothes, some of Hunk’s infamous soup, complete with flasks to keep it warm) and leaves the apartment, locking the door behind him.

 

-

 

It takes about ten minutes to walk to the bookshop, and in that time Lance manages to work himself into a somewhat confident state of mind. He is ready for this. He can do this. Keith is taking him somewhere, and it’s going to be fun and nothing bad is going to happen. Everything is going to be fine, fine, fine.

 

He spots Keith waiting for him outside the bookshop (‘Altea Dream Reads’) and does a double take. Keith’s figure, although facing away from him, is perfectly illuminated in the lamp-lit surrounding darkness in which he is standing. It occurs to him that he’s never seen Keith standing up before, and thus he’s never got a good view of the whole of him. Now, however, Lance can fully admire how well built and shaped Keith is. His shoulders are well-rounded and broad, and his back muscles are accentuated by the tightness of the black t-shirt he’s wearing. His calves are muscly, but also a little on the skinny side, and his butt is extremely firm and Lance can’t help but think it would be nice to squeeze it-

 

Maybe too far.

 

As Lance approaches, Keith turns around and spots him. He smiles, a little tightly for someone about to go on a date, and gestures for Lance to catch up to him as he starts walking.

 

Lance picks up his pace so that he ends up walking next to Keith, side by side, and begins the only way he knows how.

 

“So, whatcha got cooking, good looking?’

 

Keith smiles exasperatedly and rolls his eyes, turning his head to the side so that their eyes meet. His eyes are an extremely dark purple, and Lance finds himself comparing them to wet lavender petals, rich in colour when soaked by the rain.

 

“Are you always going to use the worst pick up lines on me?”

 

“Yes”

 

He smiles again and bites his lip. Lance wonders if Keith bites his lip when he’s nervous. When neither of them say anything for a few moments, he begins to chew it, and Lance decides that, yes, Keith bites his lip when he’s nervous. He also subconsciously decides that it’s cute and that he wants to see it more often.

 

“So,” Lance asks curiously “where are you taking me?”

 

Keith sighs and lets out a small, huffy puff of breath which Lance thinks is a laugh. “You’ll see, okay? It’s a short walk, and we’re already nearly there”.

 

Satisfied, but still itching to know where Keith is taking him, Lance begins to ask Keith questions. He discovers, as they banter back and forth (and Keith begins to smile more, visibly relaxing and un-tensing his shoulders), that Keith has been working at the bookshop since he was sixteen in order to earn some money so that he can study at Uni. He also learns that Keith wants to study Physics, so that he can become an engineer. Keith asks Lance if he has a job, to which Lance answers no, seeing as nearly all of his free time is spent playing tennis.

 

“Are you aiming to become a professional?”

 

“No, I just like it. Besides, I’m way too competitive for professional sports”

 

Keith lets out a burst of laughter. “ I thought competitiveness was, like, a necessity for competitive sports?”

 

“Not if you’re as extreme as me!”

 

By the time they make it to their destination, which is a patch of grass surrounded by a few bushes in the local park, Lance feels completely comfortable. Keith isn’t anything like he thought he was going to be. Not just a pretty boy with attitude after all. Instead, Keith is friendly (although a little bit reserved) and laughs at Lance’s jokes. He’s even smiled a couple of times so far, which makes Lance feel like he’s achieved something, even though it shouldn’t feel like that much of a triumph.

 

Glancing up at the sky, Lance gasps loudly. Keith nods, staring down at his feet, suddenly looking a little bit uncomfortable as he uses his shoe to push some mud off of the ground into the corner of his trainer.

 

“I thought you might want to stargaze”, he mumbles, pushing the dirt more insistently into his shoe, “and this spot is pretty quiet so…you know…if you want… _that_ …it’s an option”

 

Lance blinks once. Then twice.

 

‘What?”

 

Keith looks increasingly more uncomfortable, and his trainers are now covered in shuffled mud. “Isn’t that why you asked me out in the first place?”

 

And then it hits him. Lance gets what Keith means. And _now_ he understands why Keith was acting so awkward earlier. It’s because he didn’t know what Lance wanted from him. In retrospect, it was quite plausible to reach that conclusion. But Lance didn’t want… _that_ …from Keith. At least, not yet., and especially not in the local park of all places.

 

Lance smiles at Keith and laughs warmly. “That’s not why I asked you out, you idiot.”

 

“Why then?”, Keith blurts. His eyebrows are knitted together into a frown that makes the corners of his eyes pinch a little. Lance thinks it suits his face really well, for some reason.

 

“Because I thought you were cute, and just thought I’d ask”, Lance elaborates, walking up to Keith so that they’re pretty close. Close enough that Lance can smell Keith’s scent (something musky, similar to the smell of old books, but it’s oddly comforting and compelling). Keith’s face relaxes, and Lance feels warm inside when he lets out a little _‘oh’_ and blushes, averting his gaze shyly. Lance takes his rucksack off of his back and unzips it, continuing to talk as he fishes around for Hunk’s soup.

 

“I don’t do it often, don’t get me wrong”, he explains, finally finding the flasks, “it’s just that sometimes you’ve just got to take a chance, y’know? I saw you and I thought ‘damn, I should ask him out’ so I just did and now, here we are”.

 

Keith grins now, letting his smile light up his face and send Lance’s stomach doing backflips. They sit down on the grass. Lance hands Keith a flask and a spoon, before uncapping his own and taking a sip.

 

“It’s my friend Hunk’s cooking”, Lance explains excitedly, watching as Keith cautiously takes a sip and lights up with enthusiasm, “he cooks for me and my friend Pidge all the time. We share an apartment ‘cos we go to a school nearby together, and we all wanted to live together. It’s really great, because you can’t beat his cooking”

 

Keith hums in agreement, sipping the soup contentedly and then wiping his mouth of his hand before asking Lance:

 

“Why don’t you live with your family?”

 

“Well, I guess it’s because I’m passionate about what I want to do. You see, the school I go to specializes in astronomy and the subject of space, which is what I’ve always wanted to study, and it’s the best in the country so of course when I got in I just had to move closer to it. My family are supportive…and really proud. I miss them a lot” Lance smiles absently, letting his mind wander back to his family. He turns to Keith, curious.

 

“What about you?”

 

Lance swears he sees Keith freeze up for a second before relaxing again.

 

“I live with my brother”, he says nonchalantly. He doesn’t mention his parents. Lance feels curious, and he wants to know more, but decides against pushing for detail, not wanting to alienate Keith. He barely knows the guy, and missing your family can feel painful sometimes. Lance wonders what Keith’s parents are like.

 

They end up talking about lots of other things. Lance learns a lot about Keith in general, but also learns many of his physical attributes, like how his eyebrows are constantly pinched in a semi-frown on his forehead, and how he licks his bottom lip when he’s thinking particularly hard. They talk and talk and talk and just simply absorb each other, and when the conversation trails off naturally, they find themselves gazing up at the stars in a comfortable, warm silence. Lance takes the opportunity to steal a glance at Keith.

 

The yellowish light of the sky creates a beautiful shadow across Keith’s sharp, jaunty features, and he looks like a painting. Lance wants to reach out and stroke the mullet fringe out of Keith’s eyes so that he can see the purple irises, a deep violet, reflecting the stars. He hesitates, but works up the nerve to do it.

 

Keith looks surprised when the hands come up to brush the hair away, but he doesn’t move away from the touch and doesn’t make any sound of protest. In fact, Lance swears that he can see Keith’s cheeks reddening. But the night sky casts weird shadows in weird colours, and he might be hallucinating.

 

But no, Lance can definitely see it now. It’s subtle, but the faint dust of rose pink of Keith’s pale cheeks is definitely there. Lance feels his own face start to warm up significantly, and he suddenly feels self-conscious. Keith still isn’t looking directly at him, but he keeps glancing, out of the corner of his eye, and Lance wants to look half as good as Keith does in the starlight glow. Something warm stirs in his chest, sweet and comforting. Lance closes his eyes. He doesn’t realize that he’s snuggled up next to Keith’s side as he drifts into a light doze, comfortable and warm. For the first time in a long time, he feels completely content.

 

-

 

As Lance dozes, Keith can’t help but think Lance looks beautiful in the moonlight, all smooth brown skin, dark freckles and light pink cheeks. There is something about this boy, Keith thinks, that makes his chest clench slightly uncomfortably and makes him smile more than he usually does.

 

 

He wonders briefly what this feeling brewing within him is, but the stars are glowing and Lance has moved closer to him so that they are pressing up against each other in a small but warming way. Keith doesn’t want to think. So he closes is eyes and lets the sound of Lances breathing fill up the silence.

 

-

 

When Lance finally wakes up, he feels groggy but oddly warm. He glances briefly at his watch, which reads 11:45pm.

 

Turning to his side, he sees that Keith is pressed up next to him, all warm and soft and _cute_. His mullet is splayed across his face in thick black waves. His breathing is calm and relaxed. There is something angelic about him sleeping. It makes Lance’s stomach flutter. Not wanting to wake him, but finding it necessary in the increasingly late hour of the night, Lance gently shakes him, and when Keith rouses, the peaceful sleep of his face clouds with awareness of his surroundings, and Lance can’t help but feel regretful.

 

The night ends with Lance walking Keith back to the bookshop, where they part ways (Keith living in the opposite direction to Lance) but not before Keith shyly tells Lance to call him again.

 

His heart warming with wonder and something heavily gooey, Lance makes his way home in the company of the dark night sky, wondering whether Keith is feeling anything that he is feeling, and whether this is a good idea or a very, very bad one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awww they're beginning to catch feelings! Don't worry, there is angst yet to come, but also plenty of fluff so be warned, you may catch a cavity. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and stay tuned for the next one coming your way next Wednesday. Hope you have an amazing day/night wherever you are, and I'll catch you later!


	4. Nice to Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance asks Keith to go to an outdoor party with him. Keith accepts. Lance is awkward. Keith is having none of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't had much time to read this through and correct all spelling mistakes, so there may be one or two but oh well. Hopefully you all enjoy this chapter pals.

 

 

“Yeah, you know, if you want”.

 

Lance chews his lip nervously, awaiting Keith’s response.

 

It’s late in the evening, and Lance is sitting on the red beanbag in the living room with Pidge and Hunk on either side of him, having finally convinced him that he is worthy of asking Keith out to the annual school lake party. Lance had whined and chickened out at least five times before Pidge had grunted, grabbed Lance’s phone and dialed Keith’s number so quickly that all Lance could do was stare open mouthed at her bold move.

 

“Here”, she had said, handing him the phone, “just do it”.

 

Now, as he waits for some kind of noise on the other end of the phone, Lance starts to panic. What if he says no? What if he laughs and hangs up? What if he just straight up tells Lance he’s seeing someone else? A feverish sweat breaks out on Lance’s forehead and he can feel his hands start to shake violently. Pidge grabs hold of his arm gently to stop it from trembling and Hunk grabs his hand, squeezing it tight with reassurance and a smile.

 

“Sure. As….as a date?”

 

“Yeah! Yeah totally as a date unless that’s not cool with you I mean you can just come as my friend because you know, we are friends, but I mean if you wanted it to be a date it could totally be a da-“

 

“Lance?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Of course I’ll come with you as your date. Did you really think I’d say no?”

 

Relief crashes down on Lance like a tidal wave. It fills him up with happiness so sudden and overpowering that he can’t help but squeal a little. Hunk and Pidge both helpfully cover the phone receiver, apparently prepared.

 

Recomposing himself. Lance replies.

 

“No of course not, I was just wondering if that kind of thing was your thing, you know?”

 

He hears a chuckle on the other end of the line that makes his insides squirm with excitement. “Okay. What time shall we meet? What should I wear? Are you going to pick me up?”

 

“I’ll pick you up at 8:30pm sharp if you text me your address, and just something causal, y’know? The party is always pretty chill.”

 

“Done and done,. I’ll text you my address then?”

 

“Yeah”

 

“Okay, see you tomorrow Lance”

 

“Later Keith”

 

The minute the receiver beeps to cut off the call, Lance lets out a very high pitched scream and leaps onto his feet, toppling over Pidge and Hunk on either side of him. Not wanting to waste the adrenaline rush, he bolts around the living room, jumping up and down as he feels the buzz coursing through him like a drug. _He said yes._ Keith had said _yes._

 

He turns around to see Pidge and Hunk gazing at him affectionately, and smiles back at them so genuinely that he feels vulnerable.

 

“Thanks guys. Really, you’re both the best”

-

 

“It’s more crowded than I thought it would be”.

 

Lance feels extremely nervous, and with Keith by his side, looking absolutely gorgeous in his black shirt, tight black jeans and cropped red jacket, he can’t help but feel inferior. Lance knows that he didn’t think this through very well, because it’s not the first time he’s realized that all the people that attend his school are extremely attractive. It’s only now he realizes that inviting Keith to this party may well have set Keith up with a very good chance of finding someone better than him to hang out with.

 

The field is blanketed in navy blue darkness, lit only by the fairy lights that the student council had threaded through the trees earlier in the week in preparation for the party. Students from all year groups were milling around the lake, which was medium sized and quite deep, littered with pond reeds and lily pads. The atmosphere was friendly and chilled out, but Lance could feel his palms sweating as he began to feel nervous. So nervous.

 

“Lance?”

 

He looks up and meets Keith’s gaze. He’s looking at Lance in a way that makes his gut twist with desire. He likes Keith. Wants to go on dates with him, and talk about nothing for hours with him, and watch stupid films whilst cuddled up on the living room sofa. He wants to be close to Keith. He wants Keith to feel close to him.

 

“Still here”, Lance responds jokingly, trying desparatly not to convey his sudden melancholy, “Do you want to meet my flat mates a.k.a my space school buddies?”

 

Keith smiles excitedly, his cheeks turning a pale pink with what Lance thinks is anticipation. “Yes! Yes I do!”

 

Lance grins devilishly, grabbing Keith’s arm and leading him through the crowds of people surrounding the lake. “You’re going to love them. I reckon Pidge will adopt you straight away…she has the same sense of humour as you”

 

Lance swears he feels Keith momentarily freeze at the word ‘adopt’, but decides against questioning it. He doesn’t want to push too far when there’s so much choice for Keith in terms of other guys who would most definitely have him. Instead, he spots Pidge and Hunk, who are stood at the edge of the lake (probably talking about some weird new technology NASA just invented) and drags Keith towards them.

 

Hunk notices them approaching first and raises his hand in a hello. Pidge spots them after and grins mischeviously.

 

“Guys”, Lance yells enthusiastically as they finally reach them, “ _this_ is Keith! Keith, this is Hunk and this is Pidge. They live with me!”.

 

Pidge extends her hand and shakes Keith’s a little too hard for it to be socially acceptable whilst Hunk pulls Keith into a big hug, which Keith seems to find a little uncomfortable, but he returns it politely.

 

“So”, Pidge starts, staring at Keith, “what do you do?”.

 

Keith looks down at the floor, suddenly becoming shy, and rubs the back of his neck with his hand. “I work at a bookshop. Altea Dream Reads? Dunno if you’ve heard of it..”

 

“Cool! Isn’t that, like, the bookshop that has all those crazy new books on the latest space tech that’s being developed?”

 

Keith grins. “Yeah, it is. We specialize in that kind of thing”

 

Batting her eyelashes and smiling sweetly, Pidge clasps her hands together. “Any chance of a friend discount? Or a preview of some of the books?”

 

Keith laughs, and Lance gradually begins to feel more comfortable as Hunk and Pidge get to know Keith. The way Keith’s shoulders relax and the way his head falls back when Pidge says something particularly funny, or the way he giggles when Hunk makes a bad food pun, makes Lance feel like he has a decent shot. If Keith likes his friends, he might be more compelled to give Lance more of a chance to prove his worthiness of being Keith’s boyfriend.

 

Frowning, Lance considers this. Technically, this is his second date with Keith, but they haven’t kissed yet, or really touched that much at all. Lance suddenly thinks about all the ways he could try and subtly touch Keith throughout the evening. He could rest his arm on Keith’s shoulder, or link arms with him, or even be bold and try to hold his hand. The thoughts simmer away in Lance’s mind, but he knows deep down that he’s too scared to actually attempt any of them. But damn, he really wants to kiss Keith and-

 

“Lance, are you alright?”

 

Lance’s head shoots up as he realises he’s been staring out at the lake for about five minutes, not at all engaging in the conversation.

 

“Yeah I’m fine totally fine nothing wrong with me at all I’m just tired you know ha, long day at school and all that…”

 

“…o…kay”, Keith doesn’t sound at all convinced, but accepts Lance’s lame excuse anyway.

 

-

 

As the evening wears on, Lance introduces Keith to some of his other school friends (but refuses to meet Keith’s eyes when he calls him ‘a friend of mine’) and even lets him meet Coran, who Keith seems to make an instant connection with. The party itself isn’t much fun, but Lance finds himself having a better time simply because Keith is there by his side _as his date_ and he seems to be enjoying it.

 

Until, at about ten o’clock in the evening, Keith tugs on Lance’s arm and leads him away into the nearest open building (the boys’ changing rooms).

 

The lights are off and the room is almost completely pitch black, but neither boy bothers to switch the lights on. Instead, Keith turns to face Lance in the darkness, so that Lance can only see the faint outlines of his face and eyes, and he speaks.

 

“Do you regret it?”

 

Lance feels his blood run cold. His fingers twitch into fists and he feels trapped. He doesn’t regret anything. No. But Keith is accusing him of regretting something, and that’s scary.

 

“Regret…what?”

 

Keith sighs, and crosses his arms over his chest. Lance feels intimidated.

 

“Do you regret inviting me to this party?”

 

“No! Not at all, why on earth would you think that?”

 

“Because”, Keith continues tensely “you’ve been acting weird all evening, staring into the distance and looking nervous, like you want to make a run for it. Am I really that boring to you?”

 

“Oh my god Keith no…you’ve got it completely wrong”, Lance splutters, suddenly understanding., “I’m just….I’m just scared. It’s not your fault.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Why what?”

 

“Why are you scared?”

 

Lance sighs, letting his own arms curl into his chest. “I’m scared that you’ll realize that I’m…I don’t know…a bit boring, okay? That’s why I’m scared”. It’s not entirely true, but Lance doesn’t want to admit that he feels completely inferior to Keith.

 

In the half darkness, Lance sees Keith’s eyes soften in understanding. Hesitantly, almost as if he’s afraid he’ll scare him away, Keith wraps his arms around Lance’s waist and tilts his head up so their eyes meet. Keith’s eyes are that gorgeous deep purple, that almost looks like magenta in the darkness.

 

“Lance, _I_ think that _I’m_ too boring for you. But knowing that you feel the same makes me feel a little bit better”. He twiddles his thumbs behind Lance’s back, shyly.

 

Lance suddenly feels the strong urge to laugh. Looking at Keith, he sees the same reaction brewing under his surface, and soon they are laughing super unattractively, snorting out of their noses and gasping for air as the amusement makes them senseless. Lance lets his body relax and his muscles uncurl from the previous tension, and it takes many minutes for them both to calm down, and when they finally do, Keith replaces his arms around Lance’s waist and pulls him in closer, so that their bodies are aligned and their chests are rising and falling at the same time.

 

Lance winds his fingers into Keith’s hair and stares down at him. He knows that this is the perfect oppertunity. He knows that this is the perfect chance. All he has to do is lean down so that his own face is just a millimeter away from Keith’s own pale, flushed one and then they’ll be kissing.

 

But he can’t do it. He’s too nervous.. Keith is looking up at him, expectantly, and Lance just can’t find it within him to make that final move. Keith’s lips curl into a devilish smirk, worthy of Pidge, and he leans upwards so that his nose is touching Lance’s.

 

“Too scared, Lancey-Lance?”

 

Lance snorts indignantly, but Keith doesn’t seem to notice because he’s tilting his head up, and connecting his lips to Lance’s mouth.

 

The kiss is soft and chaste, and it only lasts for a few seconds. When they both pull away, Keith is grinning like crazy and violently blushing, whilst Lance feels simply too shocked to move his face t all.

 

The shock doesn’t wear off. Not after the second kiss, nor the third, nor the fourth. It doesn’t wear off when they sneak back outside and rejoin the party as if they never left. It doesn’t wear off when Lance drops Keith back off at his house and kisses him gently on the pavement outside his house. The shock resides with him persistently until the moment he drifts off to sleep, wondering how on earth he managed to land someone as beautiful and funny and kind as Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FLUFF but also Lance's insecurities are starting to come through. And finally, they kiss! Hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it, and another update will be coming your way this time next week. Stay tuned, and I hope you have a lovely day/evening/night!


	5. Maybe (Or Maybe Not)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith invites Lance over to his place. Lance is excited. But then he's nervous. Lance is a bit of a mess to be honest but aren't we all?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello wonderful reader! You may notice that this chapter is a bit shorter than usual, which I'm very sorry about. I'm drowning in work at the moment but I really wanted to put something out on time, and so this is kind of a half chapter? The next chapter will start off right where this ends, so I hope that's okay. ALSO TIGGER WARNING: In this chapter I do describe Lance having a mild panic attack. I sometimes get these myself and they are manageable, but not very nice at the time. If you think that this will effect your mental health in a detrimental way please do not read this chapter. Stay safe! Other than that, I hope you enjoy this, and I'll see you down below.

 

It’s been weeks. It’s been weeks since the party, and weeks since Lance’s half-confession and weeks since Lance felt that awful nervous thing in his chest stir every time Keith looked him in the eye. And the reason it’s been weeks since he’s felt that way is because he now makes an excuse every day to see Keith. Every. Single. Day.

 

At first, the night after the lake party, Lance had simply dropped into the bookshop where Keith worked to ask if he wanted to get coffee after his shift. He’d said yes, and they’d grabbed coffee on his lunch break and bonded over surprisingly stupid things (like Keith’s surprisingly trashy taste in music and Lance’s ability to recite the entire periodic table). After that, Lance learned all of Keith’s break times and they began to meet up at every single one of them. Lance would ask Keith, Keith would smile adorably and giggle and say yes, and then they’d go grab lunch from a café and just talk.

 

And what Lance likes the most about Keith is he can talk to him about anything in the world. It doesn’t matter how stupid it is, or how philosophical it gets, or how immature Lance can sometimes be, Keith is always ready to talk and always has something to say, even if he is still a little shy. Keith, Lance has decided, is his conversational soul mate.

 

So it’s no surprise that Lance feels comfortable turning up to ‘Altea Dream Reads’ just like he does every other day to ask if Keith is around. The staff knows him by now (Allura is extremely pretty and intriguing, Jim likes to ask if he’s actually asked Keith out yet and Maia just wants free coffee from wherever they go) and he likes the place. It smells kind of like Keith, which is nice.

 

He spots Keith today at the till, serving customers. Sneaking around the queue so Keith doesn’t see him, he waits in line. When it’s his turn Lance glides over to the till and waits for Keith to look up at him.

 

“Hey, can I order a slice of your time ‘cause damn today you’re looking fine”

 

Keith slaps one hand to his forehead and laughs quietly, ignoring the looks from the customers in the queue (who just want to buy their books dammit!). “Wait until I’m on break, ‘kay?”

 

Saluting him dramatically, Lance winks before turning around and striding off to wait outside the shop.

 

-

 

“About time, I was beginning to think you wanted to work your lunch shift”.

 

Keith is stepping outside in his…normal clothes? He smiles sheepishly.

 

“I finish my shift early today”.

 

Lance faulters. Surely if Keith is finishing early he has no reason to need Lance’s company. Trying to sound like it doesn’t bother him, when it totally does, Lance tries for a smile. “You going home then?”

 

Keith shuffles his trainers against each other, something that Lance has seen him do before when he’s nervous. When he looks up, his cheeks are red. _God, why is he so adorable?_

 

“My brother’s not home for the weekend, he’s out of town, so I was wondering if maybe you wanted to come back to mine and make ou- HANG out. I meant hang out”. His cheeks are now extremely dark red and he’s looking at his shoes, shuffling them together intensely and refusing to meet lance’s eyes.

 

Snorting, Lance wraps his arms around Keith’s middle and pulls him in. “Of course I’ll come back with you dummy”, he grins softly, nuzzling his face into Keith’s hair “do you even have to ask?”

 

Huffing but also relaxing into Lance’s grasp, Keith doesn’t respond, but leans upward. The kiss is short and sweet, just like all their others have been, but it’s good and it leaves Lance wanting more.

 

The walk home is filled with laughs and subtle touches, Lance curling his arm around Keith’s shoulders to pull him in closer and Keith continually nuzzling his head into the side of Lance’s shoulder, which makes Lance’s cheeks feel very very warm and his insides feel very very gooey.

 

-

 

“No way”.

 

And there is no way, Lance thinks, that he ever could have guessed that Keith was geeky.

 

They’d got to the house about half an hour ago. Lance had been offered a drink (water) and a snack (some weird kind of chocolate thing?) and then Keith had offered to show Lance his room. And who in their right mind would say no to seeing someone else’s bedroom? Lance is just naturally nosey.

 

But standing in the doorway, right here right now, Lance realizes that he’s not just landed himself a cute boy, but he’d landed himself a cute _geeky_ boy. The walls are lined with posters of solar system charts, various gaming merch ads and a lot of ‘how to play’ handbooks. In the corner of his room Keith has a stack of posters that haven’t even been unraveled yet, and piles of more books that obviously wouldn’t fit onto the shelves on the walls, The bed is covered in grey and black checked bed sheets, and the bedside table has a lamp on it shaped like a Mario mushroom (which Lance thinks is particularly cool).

 

“This is where you sleep?!”

 

Keith scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Thought that was pretty obvious”.

 

“But…there’s no way that you…”

 

“No way that I what?”

 

“There’s no way that you’re hot and nerdy, that’s just not fair”.

 

Keith turns around to face Lance from the middle of the room.

 

“Did you just call me hot?”

 

Lance laughs awkwardly and feels his brain melt slightly. But before he can deny it, Keith is stepping across the room and standing close to him. So close that he can feel his breath on his face, warm and light. He can see Keith’s dark eyelashes and the way his purple eyes practically gleam with playfulness. He can see the beauty spot that Keith has just below his right ear. H can practically feel Keith’s heart beating in time with his.

 

Slowly, before he can loose his nerve, Lance places his hands on either side of Keith’s face so that he’s cradling his cheeks, which are gently flushed. He wants to do it so badly. He wants to kiss Keith so badly, but it’s suddenly too warm in here and his feels his skin burning and his face flushing and he lets go of Keith as if he was touching fire, quickly making some lame excuse about needing to go to the bathroom. Telling him where it is, Lance can’t help but feel guilty when he sees the slightly put out look on Keith’s face, but he just can’t do it.

 

Trying not to sprint to the bathroom, Lance calms himself down by trying to breathe in and out and in and out and in and out and _oh my god I’m such a wimp I should have done it WHY DIDN’T I DO IT?!_

Closing the door and turning around to lean on it, Lance breathes. Tries to clear his head. Tries to not think. It’s not like he hasn’t kissed Keith before. He’s done it plenty of times. He kissed him at the lake party (more than once), he kissed him the other day outside the café, he almost kissed him just now.

 

And Lance knows that Keith likes him, even if it’s just a little bit. He knows that Keith asked him to come back here because he likes him. There’d be no other reason. He knows he’s being stupid, but the intensity of the panic that came with that moment just before he was about to do it is enough to send his head reeling all over again. And he knows it’s because he really likes Keith and really wants to ask him out. Properly. Officially.

 

He’s only felt this scared once before. Year nine, at the tennis match he played when he was fifteen. It was the first competitive match he’d ever played, and he was so excited. The school had prepared a tournament with the other local school, other kids in his year had signed up to play but only five had been chosen and he was one of them.

 

He had made it all the way to the game, with his family and friends in the crowd and his rival across the net. He had made it to halfway through the game before he felt it: that horrible hot stinging feeling, gripping at his skin and making him feel dizzy. Then he had begun to panic.

 

He missed easy hits. He almost fainted several times. It was a mess. He remembered how his family had taken him out to eat afterwards at his favourite Spanish restaurant and how they had told him they were proud of him no matter what. What he remembered the most, however, was when he went to bed still feeling the stinging on his kin and still feeling scared. He didn’t know what of, but the fear was there. And whenever he was about to achieve something good, it came back. That same feeling. White and hot and all-consuming.

 

There’s a knock on the door. Lance almost jumps out of his skin. “Yes?”

 

‘Are you okay, Lance?”

 

“I’m fine! Never better! Won’t be a minute”.

 

He hears a sigh, and then footsteps trailing off down the hall. The panic has gone now, leaving Lance with just a faint tingly feeling, but that’s not the main problem.

 

How the hell is he going to explain this to Keith?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha oh god I'm really sorry...except I'm not really because Lance is human and human beings have feelings and sometimes those feelings are bad ones! But don't worry, this does have a happy ending. I hope that you reading this have a good morning/afternoon/night, and I'll see you this time next week. Bye pals!


	6. Warm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some angst, then some fluff and then some more angst. But it's okay, I swear this story has a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts right where the last chapter left off. I have only proof-read it once because I literally only have a few minutes to upload this and I didn't have time in the week to do so, so if there's spelling mistakes I'm sorry. Hope you all enjoy reading this, and I'll see you down below!

 

Slowly turning the knob on the bathroom door, Lance steps back into the hallway, soft landing carpet beneath his socks. He feels much better now, the feeling that had consumed him ebbing away more and more with every breath he takes. Listening out, he tries to see if he can hear where Keith is.

 

Something clatters to the floor downstairs, and so Lance heads towards it. Descending the stairs (which are red carpeted with white bannisters) he wonders what the sound possibly could have been. It had sounded…metallic?

 

He enters the kitchen, and immediately uncovers the mystery.

 

Keith has dropped a saucepan on the floor. Mumbling something to himself that sounds suspiciously like ‘ _fuck this shit_ ’ he picks it up, all while having his back to Lance, and there’s nothing Lance can do to stop that laughter that explodes out of him from absolutely nowhere.

 

Keith whips around to face him, but it’s too late. Lance is doubled up with hysteria, using the kitchen doorframe to support himself as he starts crying tears of laughter, breathing heavily and unable to control himself. Keith frowns slightly in confusion, and then slowly joins Lance at the doorframe, bending over in an attempt to not collapse from the wave of joy.

 

Lance shakes as he looks Keith dead in the eyes. “Fuck this shit? Really?”. Keith’s cheeks flush and he playfully shoves Lance’s shoulder. “Shut up”.

 

When they both finally find the ability to calm down and regain their regular postures, Lance glances hopefully at the stove (which Keith had earlier placed the saucepan back on). Following his gaze, Keith bites his lip and grins.

 

“I was going to make something to eat…do you want anything?”

 

“ _Duh._ What kind of question is that? Do you even know who you’re talking to? I devour all food given to me at any time in any place.”

 

Keith’s grin softens with something that looks suspiciously like affection. “Okay. Sit at the counter and I’ll make some pasta”.

 

While Lance waits, he tries to come up with an action plan. Sitting at the counter with his head resting on his arms, he thinks through the possible explanations he could give Keith for his weird behavior earlier. That is, if Keith even asks. But Lance knows that his sudden bolting down the corridor was highly questionable, and Keith seemed to be the kind of guy who really cared about his friends and…whatever Lance was to him. He knows that sooner or later, there would be questions. And he knows that he doesn’t want to tell Keith the truth. At least, not yet. Not now. Not when things are going so well. Not when he feels a convulsion in his stomach every time he looks at Keith and when he feels that surge of love for him when he gazes deep into those purple eyes. He can’t risk something this good for some stupid panicked moment.

 

By the time Keith is done with the pasta, Lance is done with thinking about his feelings for the rest of his life. As they eat, Lance tries to remain focused on the conversation, but he knows that he’s distanced. He knows that Keith knows that something is wrong. But he keeps smiling. Keeps staring into Keith’s eyes (which still make his chest clench with want, even when he’s like this). Keeps falling harder and harder for him and doesn’t know how to stop himself.

 

There’s no way that Keith feels like this. Lance knows that he’s screwing this up, because Keith probably doesn’t even want a relationship. He’s probably just being kind. He probably…. he probably just feels sorry for him.

 

-

 

They’ve been talking for what feels like hours. But not in bad way. They moved from the kitchen to the living room a while ago, and are now sprawled comfortably on the carpeted floor. Lance’s hands are resting on his stomach, but his head is turned towards Keith so he can watch him while he talks.

 

Eventually, there’s a lull in the conversation. Lance takes the opportunity to really look at Keith, who’s staring up at the ceiling. He notices that his eyelashes are thick and spread out perfectly, like a fan. He also notices that his hair is falling over his face. Not thinking about it, Lance reaches out to brush it away, leaving him in full view of Keith’s eyes as they widen. He shifts onto his side so that he’s facing Lance, and (rather hesitantly) reaches out to caress Lance’s cheek with his fingers. The touch leaves a warm vibration in his skin, and causes him to realize how close Keith is to him, and how he can feel Keith’s warm breath on his face. He closes his eyes, and breathes him in, feeling completely relaxed.

 

“Can I ask you something?”, Keith whispers delicately. Lance feels his breath flow across his skin.

 

“Anything”.

 

“Are we going out?”

 

Lance scoffs quietly, replacing his fingers in Keith’s hair.

 

“Duh. Of course we are”.

 

“Then why did you run away earlier?”

 

Lance’s blood freezes. Why did Keith pick the worst moments to ask the most intruding questions? Right here, right now, when it had been so peaceful in his heart just seconds before.

 

He thinks quickly. He doesn’t want to lie to him. But he’s not sure himself exactly what was wrong. And this isn’t like all those romantic films where the hero tells the heroine all his flaws and she fixes them with love. Life, Lance knows, is much more complex than that.

 

“I was scared”.

 

“Why?”

 

“I don’t really know”.

 

Keith moves closer so that their noses are brushing together. It’s a long time before he speaks again.

 

“It wasn’t anything to do…with me?”

 

Lance closes his eyes and breathes in deeply. He strokes Keith’s fringe.

 

“No, it’s something to do with me”.

 

Keith frowns a little, obviously confused by Lance’s response, but doesn’t prod any further. “If you ever want to talk to me Lance”, he mumbles shyly, moving impossibly closer so that Lance’s eyes almost cross “you can”.

 

And Lance can’t help but smile. Keith finally closes the distance between them and kisses him, slowly and cautiously, as if he’s scared that Lance will fall apart in his hands, and although Lance knows in the back of his mind that this isn’t going to solve the problem, he kisses back anyway. It’s gentle and soft and sweet. Keith gently prods his tongue into Lance’s mouth, and Lance reciprocates gingerly, tasting the pasta they ate earlier on Keith’s tongue. His mind slowly fills with nothing but a calm buzzing noise as he threads his fingers into Keith’s hair and just keeps kissing him and kissing him and kissing him until he forgets about his worries and his panic earlier and his responsibilities. He kisses Keith until there’s nothing left in his world but Keith’s warmth and taste and smell and touch. And as he keeps kissing him, Lance desperately wants it to last forever.

 

-

 

“No”, Pidge states, shaking her head adamantly, “no no no no no”.

 

“Lance”, Hunk says cautiously, “You need some help”,

 

Lance sighs, because he knew this was how Pidge and Hunk would react. He had walked home from Keith’s house and found them sitting on the beanbag in the living room, and his distress over what he was feeling and why had suddenly got the better of him. He cried for a solid ten minutes while Hunk rubbed his back and Pidge gave him sporadic hugs, before finally telling them what had happened.

 

“Lance”, Pidge says gently, “You can’t go on like this. You need someone to help you”.

 

He plays with the string of his hoodie, avoiding her gaze. “I don’t need help, Pidge. There’s nothing wrong with me”.

 

Hunk puts a firm hand on his shoulder, forcing Lance to look at him.

 

“I know you don’t want to admit that you need help Lance, but it’s _okay_ to get help. You need it, and there are people out there who can provide it”.

 

He feels the tears burning in his eyes again, but refuses to acknowledge them.

 

“What if I do get help and it doesn’t work? What if there’s nothing wrong with me? What if Keith realizes I’m messed up and doesn’t like me anymore? What if everything goes to shit?”.

 

“Buddy, judging by how you’re feeling now, everything’s already gone to shit.”

 

“We’ll go with you”, Pidge says gently, “to the doctor’s. We’ll be here for you Lance. Every step of the way”.

 

Lance sniffs loudly and rubs his nose on his sleeve, too tired and worn out to care that it’s disgusting (and bad for his skin). He nods slowly, and feels grateful for the warmth when Pidge and Hunk embrace him, holding him down and keeping him grounded. He thinks about Keith and about how he kissed him earlier. About how he’d looked at Lance and how he’d caressed his cheek. The warmth of his friends, and the knowledge that he now had a _boy_ friend didn’t make Lance’s problems any less real, but it made him feel like there was hope. He knew that they’d be there for him. Every step of the way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are looking up for Lance! I've only just realised that this fic is very Lance-centric, and in future fics I'm aiming to focus more on the relationship in general rather than just one character, but Lance deserves his own story and this is what that is. Also, Keith isn't the one who solves all of Lance's problems, but he's there for Lance and supports him and I think that's very important. I really hope you all enjoyed reading this, and stay tuned for a new chapter next week!


	7. Lil' Update

Hey pals! Just thought I'd let you know that I won't be able to upload the next chapter until around Friday. This is because i haven't actually written it yet due to my school work getting super intense and being very busy with it. I'm trying to get it written today and tomorrow, so hopefully it'll be ready to read soon. Hope you all have a great day/night and enjoy the rest of your week! See you soon :)


	8. Euphoria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance takes Keith on a special date (with the intention of confessing something to him). Keith is awkward but that's okay because they understand each other so well. Love is in the air (or should i say the water?).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter for this fic, mainly because I really want to start writing my next one and there's no way I can do two at a time because I am a terrible multitasker. I hope that this is a good conclusion to a kind of decent story? And...yeah! Scroll down for the rest of my notes and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Ta!

**Three months later**

It’s been awhile since Lance has felt this much of a nervous wreck, but he knows that, this time, it’s for a damn good reason.

 

He’s set the scene perfectly. About a week ago he’d called on Keith whilst he was working in the bookshop and asked him on the date, and Keith (being the little shit that he was) had rolled his eyes fondly and said that, yes, of course he would go on a date with his _boyfriend._ Lance had picked him up earlier that evening at around seven and they’d walked to the aquarium together, a prime location that Lance had always fantasised about taking people on dates to. Lance’s heart had swelled with affection when Keith had answered the door in a simple red t-shirt, jeans and black coat and had yet managed to look what Lance could only call absolutely fucking beautiful. His eyes had glistened with a dark purple excitement and something else that Lance couldn’t quite name, but that was equally welcome. He’d panicked and, as usual, blurted out some stupidly corny pick up line, to which Keith had blushed violently and shoved him gently, the heat of his hands pressing into Lance’s body and only serving to send Lance spiraling further down the drain of hopeless devotion and affection to him.

 

And now they were here, standing in the exact spot where Lance had planned to do it. A small room in the back of the aquarium that was dedicated specifically to clownfish. The glass which contained the mass of fish and water spread itself around the entirety of three out of four of its walls (including the ceiling) and as a result it felt as if they were standing in the middle of a shimmery blue sea. Lance could only describe the view as magical, even though he’d dragged Pidge and Hunk to see it thousands of times before. There was nothing quite like this, especially now, when the room was completely free of other people and the watery glow was playing with Keith’s pale face, casting luscious waves of light across his skin. There was nothing Lance wanted more than to lean in closer, so that he could count the delicate freckles on Keith’s nose and drink in the beautiful depths of those eyes that he just couldn’t ever get enough of (they were a very light purple at the moment, as a result of the blue room).

 

Lance takes a few deep breaths and Keith, who had previously been preoccupied with staring at the clownfish in wonder, turned to face him and gently took his hands into his own.

 

“Are you okay?” he asks, voice low and caring, making Lance’s insides feel numb with anticipation because _this is your chance this is the time to do it and you know you can do it juST DO IT._

“I’m fine mullet, why?”

 

“You look nervous is all. Did you take your meds today?” Keith asks, voice filled with gentle concern. Absentmindedly he brings his hands up to Lance’s face, cupping it in his hands and running his thumbs up and down Lance’s cheeks. Lance can feel the skin Keith touches flush with a heat that he couldn’t quite pass off as simply just a blush. He’d been feeling it a lot more lately, ever since he’d become even closer to Keith. After finally going to the doctor and being diagnosed with moderate anxiety, he’d been scared of telling him about it. Of course, when he’d finally worked up the courage to stop dodging Keith’s questions and give him some answers, Keith had taken him by the shoulders and held him in place firmly as he spoke.

 

“Lance, I’m not going _anywhere_. I’m not going anywhere just because you’ve been diagnosed with something you can’t control. I’m not letting you go because you think you’re not good enough. Because you are good enough. You’re better than good”. He remembered the way Keith’s eyes had burned, and how his mouth had set into a thin line of determination as he stared into Lance’s eyes. “I like everything about you, Lance. I like your eyes, and your smile, and the way you use those dumb pick up lines on me even though they’re super cheesy and would never work on anyone else. I like the way that you keep on trying to understand _me_ , even though sometimes I’m hard to understand. I like the way you never give up on me, even when I flipped you off the first time we met. I like all of you. Every single last bit. And I don’t intend to stop liking you. Ever.”

 

That, Lance thinks, is the moment he felt it. That feeling deep within his gut that wasn’t simply desire or butterflies or nerves or happiness. That was when he knew that he cared about Keith in a way that he’d never cared about anyone else before.

 

He loved him.

 

The realization had hit him hard. He’d had a mini crisis (in which Hunk had made him cookies and Pidge had given him several hugs) and had realised that even though he knew the feeling was true he had no idea how to say it to Keith. Pidge and Hunk had both said the same thing, that Lance didn’t need to tell Keith until he felt ready to do so, and Lance had accepted it for about a month until he just couldn’t anymore. He wanted to tell Keith how he felt more than he wanted to eat, or to sleep, or to watch shitty vines on YouTube. Lance wanted Keith to know exactly how much he meant to him.

 

So he’d planned this date, and now here they are, standing in the place that Lance loves the most and Lance knows that Keith is the person he loves and yet he still doesn’t know how to say it.

 

“Lance. Did you take them?”

 

“Yes”.

 

Keith smiles, showcasing his unfairly large dimples, and pulls Lance’s face closer so that their noses brush against each other. Keith looks so genuine, standing in this blue light in this blue room in his red shirt and black jeans and jacket. Lance knows that Keith is just as gorgeous on the inside as he is on the outside. Lance also knows that this is his chance, so he spits it out. Except he doesn’t.

 

“Keith, you’re like a painting”.

 

“Why?”

 

“I wanna nail you to the wall”.

 

Keith snorts loudly through his nose and shoves Lance off of him playfully, but Lance is already rearranging himself in front of Keith, laughing at his own stupidly lame pick up line when he lets the words fall from his mouth, almost without thinking about it.

 

“I love you”,

 

Keith abruptly stops laughing and whips his head around to Lance’s. His eyes are wide. He doesn’t respond right away, and panicking, Lance begins to fill the silence.

 

“I love you. I love you so much that it hurts me to say it because I’m scared that you don’t like me as much as I like you. But oh my god I like you so much. I _love_ you so much. I love your dumb face and your dumb mullet and you’re dumb pretty eyes and cute smile and obnoxious snorty laugh and I love that you like me even though I’m messed up and so not perfect and I love that you don’t force me to tell you things but let me tell you when I’m ready and I just really really-“

 

“Lance?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Calm down”.

 

Breathing in and out several times, Lance searches Keith’s face for some kind of response, but finds it’s extremely hard to tell what he’s thinking. His brow is furrowed and his eyes look conflicted.

 

Lance swallows. “You don’t have to say it back”.

 

Keith meets his eyes, and in a split second his face goes from being expressionless to a grin so wide that Lance has to squint his eyes slightly in order to make sure he isn’t blinded by its brilliant radiation.

 

“Lance, I think I love you too”

 

“Think?”

 

Keith’s grin fades into a smaller, more wistful smile. “I guess I never told you, so I should tell you now. I was a foster kid until I met Shiro. He’s my adopted brother, and when he and his family agreed to take me in, I was eleven. I love them with all my heart, but sometimes I wonder if I really honestly know what love is at all. So..yeah..I think I love you. I’m pretty sure I love you. I know that I love you more than anyone else, and that’s definitely a significant achievement on your part so.... I don’t even know why I’m telling you this..”

 

But Lance understands. And he knows that Keith is trying to say it, and he knows that whatever Keith feels, as long as he thinks it’s love (to what degree he doesn’t have to be sure) then Lance is satisfied. He would never have guessed that Shiro wasn’t Keith’s biological brother, but then Lance isn’t very perceptive in that way in general. Keith being adopted is a bit of a surprise, but Lance decides that he has plenty of time to ask more questions later when Keith is comfortable talking about it.

 

And that confession? That’s all it takes for Lance to fall the rest of the way for Keith. He’s already in deep, but when those words come out of Keith’s mouth he feels himself sinking further than he thought he could even go. He’s falling all over again. He’s stuck in the mud and he can’t move. He feels his heart beat faster and his body warm to impossibly hot as he meets Keith halfway and kisses him so hard and so passionately that he swears he is dying. He swears that Keith will be the death of him, his hands in his hair and his lips locked with those gorgeous pale ones that taste faintly of chocolate and coffee and all the other things Lance persuaded Keith to eat earlier. It also tastes warm, like Lance could warm himself up just by doing this all day. Just by kissing Keith.

 

When they pull apart, it’s like coming up for air after swimming in a pool for a long time. Relieving (for now Lance can breathe again) but cold. He knows deep within himself that this is what he wants. This feeling of right here right now, with Keith in his arms and Keith’s heartbeat hammering contentedly next to his own. Lance knows that it’s taken him a long way to get here. Tears, denial and acceptance. But now that he is here, he decides that, although life isn’t one happy musical (with a hot dance troop in the background) he can definitely live with it. His friends, his boyfriend, his family. He has everything he needs in order to pull himself up when he’s feeling down. He knows that there will be days, when he wakes up next to Keith, where he’ll want to crawl back under the covers and cry, but he also knows that there will be days where he’ll feel the sense of euphoria he’s feeling now.

 

And that, he thinks, is worth everything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaand finish! I really hope that you have all enjoyed reading this fic. I really really enjoyed writing it. I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all the kind comments that you have left me and all the kudos that has been generously given to this work. I can't thank you enough for all your support. 
> 
> I also want to add that I have got an idea for a new fic, and I am planning on starting to write it very soon, so if you want to stick around for that I'd love to take you with me on another fic journey. This one is going to be set in an AU where there's royalty..! 
> 
> ADDITIONALLY if you're looking for other Klance stuff to read I recommend checking out my bookmarks, because I have a lot of good ones saved, including my all time faves :)
> 
> Once again, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day/evening/night. I love you all to bits.

**Author's Note:**

> Lance gets a guy's number! Lance you're doing amazing sweetie. Also thought I should mention that the chapter title is lyrics from 'K' by Cigarettes After Sex, which is kind of the theme song of this fic. The stuff before the first date is next, and hopefully Pidge, Hunk and Shiro will make an appearance. Stay tuned!


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